Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Disease

To the Editor: We wish to comment further on the possible risks of hydroxyurea therapy in sickle cell disease, a subject of considerable attention since the results of the Multicenter Study of Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Anemia were reported by Charache et al. (May 18 issue). 1 We agree that the caution advised by Ho and Murgo 2 and Silver 3 in their letters (Oct. 12 issue) is necessary. Unfortunately, the single sentence from our editorial 4 quoted by Ho and Murgo distorts the thrust of our paragraph on the long-term safety of hydroxyurea. Continued monitoring of patients with sickle cell disease and others . . .